Honeyeaters etc

[Andrew Taylor <>]

On Sat, Aug 14, 2010 at 11:11:32PM +1000, Syd Curtis wrote:
> Please excuse my old-age ignorance of modern taxonomy.  What exactly does
> "sister to" imply?

I don;t think anyone ever answered Syd's question, I'm
far from an expert but here is my explanation.

Basically if Goldenfaces and Fernwrens are sister taxa, the most recent
common ancestor to Goldenfaces and Fernwrens should have no other
descendants but Goldenfaces and Fernwrens.

In other words  the Goldenfaces and Fernwrens can draw up their
family tree back to a single root and in this family tree
will only be  Goldenfaces and Fernwrens

Andrew